[a] Super Succulent, Sizzly [day] SEVEN!

Hello, you delicious dish!

Dinner = stir fried veg's.
Lite soy sauce.
Garlic.
Oh, it's been broughten.

Sorry, couldn't help myself.
I didn't get to the taco salad part of the day, so I threw in some chicken noodle soup instead. I'll trade the soup out for taco salad the next time it's on the menu.


I'm not typically a woman of excuses, but for what in order to keep myself accountable:

I didn't work out today. I know, I know. Booooo, on me.

Why?
I have not one, but two[!] reasons....
1: I'm still recovering from the sinus infection I adopted sitting through wind & rain at the Saturday Red's game. I've shaken most of it.
2: I invested the entire evening to adding finishing touches to our wedding/vow renewal invitations. These suckers are *FINALLY* ready to be mailed. {insert: haaaaaaallelujah!}

BUT! It is the one-week mark since we started this ordeal & so far, so good!
Erghh..
Volleyball tomorrow.. Tournament week. Hopefully this'll make up for my doing all of nothing today.

we. will. see.

xo.
.: c :.

Sesto Giorno! [Ecco!]

.. yeah, that means day 6 in Italian.
[tribute to my mother, as she should be increasingly proud of my diligence here]

meet my new best friend | green tea, yeah!

This is the official staple of my journey here. It's perfect. I love tea; this is the perfect opportunity to shamelessly blame my copious tea intake on a "diet." I'm all for it.

I'm quickly learning to balance the working mother schedule with this plan, and I have to say they're meshing very well. I'm only 6 days in and I can already feel a slight yet notable difference in my mood, my energy, and clarity. And NO, it isn't a placebo effect; I wasn't walking into this expecting miracles - remember, I'm a 'diet' skeptic. The solid proof is in the 6 lbs I've dropped since day 1. Not too shabby, eh?

Tonight it's turkey. Mmm. :] This isn't so bad!

Auguratemi buona fortuna!

[muah*, ♥ you, mom!]

xo.
.: C :.

Day 4: Interrupted. | Day 5: Back in the Game!

Alas, I'm sorry to report that day 4 was moderately altered/postponed. It wasn't planned, but I can't say I would have changed it :)

As many of you already know, Joe's Air Force base assignment is Scott AFB in Illinois. He moved all of our belongings up a few weeks back and started work/school. I'm here awaiting the hire of my replacement and then I'm heading up to join. I can't wait.

Soooo.. he is there, and I am here.

On Friday [Day 3 of 17], I spent the majority of the evening w/ KP, Brittany, & Cameron. [See prior blog].
We resorted to a redbox rental in lieu of going to a theater, especially since dinner didnt' end until nearly 10pm.

What I didn't realize......

My husband drove 6 hours to surprise me for an entire weekend.

Jealous?

-- I would be. :]



Reds Game | 4.16.11



I walked in the door and nearly ran right into him.

Long story short, I ended up blindfolded in the front seat as he drove us to the Hampton. He had a full weekend planned out- everything from a Red's game [best one I think I've ever attended, btw] to an IMAX of Tornado Alley.

So all in all, the primary purpose of that story-hour was to remind myself that I have the most incredible husband ever created. The secondary, and more relevent purpose, was to say that there wasn't much compliance with the diet plan on Saturday. What can I say? It's difficult to drink a kefir smoothie on short notice while at a Red's game. It's downright cruel to refuse dinner out on your husband when he's just driven across the majority of the midwest for no other reason than to simply spend two days with his wife.  

I'm sorry.

Good news: I picked right back up where I left off when we got home this morning. Call it a merge of day 4 & 5. Additionally, when I say I fell off the 'diet' trip for a day, it wasn't as thought I hounded down any metts or $5 pizza.

Soft pretzel w/ cheese.

Popcorn.

Crepe [nutella, fresh coconut, almonds, fresh raspberries]

Veggie burger from Uno's.

Steamed broccoli.

Reallyyyyy... not as bad as I could've done.

Either way, as much as I didn't wish to stray from the food regimen, it was worth it.

Honesty. :]

Back to it, now. Kefir smoothie, salad, eggplant parm.

Let's get this week started right!

xo.

.: C :.

Third Day. Not the band...

So we [Kalyn, Cameron, Brittany & I] had a big brush with temptation tonight:

First time not cooking at home or packing food [essentially first time eating out, period] in three days.
MJ's on Main: Milford, OH.
Delicious. Too bad everything I've ever ordered from here isn't part of this first cycle.




edamame? | yes, please.

 

"winter green" salad + grilled chicken. | love.


Tonight we went with a precourser set of edamame & some steamed veggies. Main course = dark green salad, grilled chicken, cranberries, walnuts, & pears topped w/ an acai pomegranate vinaigrette. I'm a huge proponent of salads, and happy to report that we were not disappointed, at all. What I must rationalize now is why 1: we payed $8+ per, and 2: we chose to do the whole shebang in a room full of folks eating bread, noodles, & havin' a few drinks.

We're silly like that.
Day 3. Success.

xo.

.: C :.

[Cycle One] Day 2.

< This is Greek Yogurt. It's a little bitter, yeah, but you'll get used to it ;)
Fact: At least 6 people ate one of these this morning.

This is when my mother [living proof of dietary genius] has every right to slather on an "I told you so" in regards to the health benefits behind this lil' bad boy [she never would, but she'd be entitled!]. 5.3oz of Protein + 80 Good Calories + 0g Fat + Vit A&C + Calcium + Iron =

good.for.you[&me].

In the course of these first 17 days, we'll eat about 13-15 of these.

[[ Hint: Berries help. ]]

Rewind, a second.

I didn't mention yesterday that this isn't just a 17-day diet. These [first] 17 days are considered cycle one, out of four. Each cycle is tailored differently to address better digestive system, metabolism, natural habit, and management. Essentially we'll be doing this for 68 days total. 68-Day Diet.

And can we not say "diet?" I've never traditionally believed in "dieting," unless you can classify that as exerting best effort to avoid saturated, greasy, deep-fried, over-processed, preserved, or any other artificially created 'edible' crap we accidentally call food. [Mom would be so proud !] I'm not adding anything new or weird [except for Kefir, already discussed that] to my eating regiment, just cutting stuff out. Stuff meaning STUFF that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Therefore, DIET. I'm officially calling this my 68-Day Training. Training, because ohhhhh... I didn't mention I'm [well, we are] throwing P90x into the mix, too. That starts on Monday of next week.

68 Days of diligent eating habit [& then some!]

+ 90 Days of HAAAAARDCOOOORE SHRED WORKOUT, RAWWRRR [ha, jk.]

= fit, cut, healthy.

It's only day 2, but everything's gotta start somewhere.

P.S. - It's sunny out! Heh. It's the little things ;)

xo.

.: C :.

17 Days. Starting NOW. [[DAY ONE]]

Kalyn.
Brittany.
Cori.
Cameron.
Linda.
Pete.

Six names.

Six people starting out on the two[point]five week trek known as Dr. Michael Moreno's 17-Day Diet. This thing is structured to dramatically tame eating habits and cut out pretty much everything except the bare essentials and powerfoods. This shouldn't be too difficult, considering some of us already limit what we eat to a narrower range of substances, but, for the love of all that is kosher, what in the world is kefir?!

--- A: Kefir is a probiotic-packed liquid whose consistency could be described as 'drinkable yogurt' [stellar visual, I know]. It's unique in that it lacks the bacteria that clash with the lactose-intolerant, yet provides nourishing cultures that aren't naturally found in 'normal' processed milk.

..... right. :).

That being said,

Today is April 13.

Today is DAY ONE.

Here is what Day One entailed:
------


Fruit [berries only] | Egg Whites | Salad w/ Tuna | 2 Tbsp Homemade Oil/Vinegar Dressing



Grilled Chicken | Steamed Veggies | Green Beans | Green Tea [not shown. Just imagine it.]

------

BREAKFAST:

- 2 scrambled egg whites, half a grapefruit (or other fresh fruit), green tea.

LUNCH:

- Large green salad topped w/ tuna; drizzle w/ 1 tbsp olive oil/flax see oil & 2 tbsp's of balsamic vinegar, green tea.

DINNER:

- Plenty of grilled chicken w/ liberal amounts of any veggie, 1 cup green tea

SNACKS:
- 6oz sugar-free plain yogurt mixed w/ 2 tbsp sugar-free jam
- 1 serving of fruit from the list
------

^^ Done, and done.

Wish us luck. Looks like tomorrow is jam packed with yogurt, fruit, salad, salmon, & green tea.

.... BRING. IT. ON.

xo.
.: C :.

Well Done, AT&T

For obvious reasons, I'm not big on email forwards. I don't believe that fairies will sprinkle anything awesome on my nose if I pass an Irish blessing on to 38 people. I don't know that I can trust the validity of a boy in Zimbabwe losing all his hair and being spat on by a goat if I don't hurry up and re-send within 7 minutes, to 7 people, on 7 different planets.

That being said, it is refreshing to receive a forward worth sharing.

Thanks to my sister, who knows how to screen amazing e-forwards ;)
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This is one of AT&T's international campaigns, purposed to show the different countries their services cover.
Look closely. Each illustration features beautiful landmarks, scenery, or cultural elements native to their country. Each illustration was created with painted human hands [& arms].

If you're not at least a little impressed, let's see your rendition of a Japanese hand/arm/elbow dragon! ;)

Enjoy, blogbots!
xo.
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  [ click each photo to enlarge it!]

Pretty creative, AT&T, pretty creative.
Nicely done :)

[Try to] Stay dry, midwest.

xoxo,
.:C:.